The Last Of Us: Shaun's Story
by Rzaorgmaer
Summary: This is a self insert story involving me and my best friend. It will involve Joel and Ellie. Two British lads attempt to make it by in a post apocalyptic world, trying to do the right thing, but not always doing so. With the lines blurred between right and wrong, how will their actions affect Joel and Ellie in their journey to the fireflies?
1. Chapter 1

**The Last Of Us: Shaun's Story**

This is a self insert story involving me and my best friend Quaid as we try to survive the parasite. It will involve Joel and Ellie, I won't give to much away just read the story!

Prologue

Freshers week, what a hell of a time. No parents, new friends, and a hell of a lot of booze, alcohol, sex and well... You can imagine. It'd been a rough few nights, surviving on souper noodles, vodka and an alcohol infused mix with a few elements I'm sure don't exist on the periodic table. I'd danced, I'd drank, I'd been with various different women, and it was time to sleep, little did I know about the events that would happen, and change the course of the rest of my life.

Chapter 1 – The Outbreak – June 14th 2013

My alarm went off at 8am, I'd only got back in at 4:30am that morning, and I'm pretty sure that I was still drunk from the night before. Induction for my course was at 9am so I thought I'd give myself some time to look like I'm among the living. I crawled out of bed and took a quick shower, threw on my dark slim fit jeans and a tight navy blue T-Shirt, and walked out of my room. The halls of the coppice were quiet, but what did I expect? It was 8am, everybody was probably still asleep from the night before or already on their way to induction, more than likely still in bed. I walked down the stairs, doing my best to not fall all the way down to the bottom, and walked outside. The cold morning breeze hit my face, and it felt good. It helped numb the pain from the night before, but I couldn't shake the feeling of something being wrong. Where the hell was everybody? I stood and looked around, and realized that I was right. Something was horribly wrong, where was everybody? Why were there no cars on the car park? The place was completely devoid of life. I walked back into my accommodation and opened the door to one of my flat mates rooms. It was empty, and it was trashed. I tried another room and it was the same story. Where the fuck was everybody?

I went into my room and turned on the TV, and what I saw next was something out of a horror movie.

"This is an emergency announcement. Please make your way to the nearest checkpoint. Bring no more than one bag of clothes. The nearest checkpoint in the West Midlands is located in Stafford, Staffordshire."

What was going on? Were we being invaded? I seriously contemplated the likelihood that Germany had invaded Poland again and started World War 3, then I realized I was being a moron. I looked at my phone, and I had seven missed calls from Quaid, which seemed quite excessive. I dialed his number and called him back and he answered almost straight away.

"Where the fuck have you been man? I've called you like a million times!" Quaid sounded both angry and scared.

"I've been hungover, I didn't get back in until stupid 'O' clock. Anyway what the fuck's going on? I've looked at the TV, all I see is that we have to get to a checkpoint. Are we being invaded? It better not be World War 3 I'm to hungover for this shit."

"Dude, it's not world war 3 there some kind of disease, a virus I don't know what exactly but it's turning people into zombies."

"Bullshit." I'm not falling for that, this Is the real world.

"So there's a emergency announcement on TV, and you think I'm going to waste time for a practical joke?"

"I don't know what's going on, but where are Mom and Dad? Are you with them?" In the midst of things I'd initially forgotten about them but I needed to know that they were okay.

"There's no easy way to say this, but mate everybody, your parents, mine, they're all dead man they're all dead!"

My heart sank, I felt like I was going to throw up. Dead? Why? They were gone? The thought just made me angry, but I had to get to the checkpoint.

"Quaid, just, where are you? At home? I'm coming to get you, I'll be there in half an hour, in the meantime just, stay there!"

"Be careful mate, stay away from everybody, I'm not joking about the zombies."

Quaid put the phone down. I needed a way to get to Quaid's house all the way from Perry Barr. In such a short amount of time I was going from starting my degree at University, to facing what could possibly be a third world war. I decided to use my motorbike to get back, and I just hoped that spending so much money on an Almax chain would pay off. I grabbed the keys from my desk and ran outside, not bothering to put on either my helmet or leathers. I ran across the car park to the motorbike area, my bike was still there, the chain had done it's job even at the end of days. I unlocked the padlock and threw the padlock and chain into the storage compartment, the Lexmoto Arrow wasn't exactly the fastest bike but I know that with a lot of revving, 70mph was possible. I started the bike and sped off.

The roads were completely packed with people in cars trying to get to the nearest checkpoint, the traffic was at a standstill on the motorway, but I took advantage of the motorbike and filtered through the gaps of the cars. I was focusing on looking straight away, doing a speed of about 30mph to make sure I didn't hit any of the cars, when somebody decided to open their driver side car door. I hit into the door and was thrown forward off my bike. I flew through the air like a crash test dummy. I hit the ground and rolled into the side of one of many cars. The skin on my hands and arms was cut, the pain was agonizing and I was bleeding out. My world was spinning, and I was unsure if it was due to the alcohol from the night before, or the fact I'd just hit the ground at the speed of sound. Probably both.

I grabbed started to sit up, when out of nowhere a man jumped on top of me. His face was covered in blood and his eyes were open wide. He lunged for my neck and tried to bite me and I instinctively raised by forearm to his neck to stop him from biting me. What the fuck was going on? Was Quaid being serious about the zombies? Or had this guy decided to just suddenly become a cannibal. In that split second I'd decided that I'd deal with that later, but right now I needed to get this psychopath off me, and in that second I raised a fist and threw a right hook as hard as I could into his temple. He stumbled off me, without hesitation I ran towards my motorbike and climbed on. I hoped it still worked, and luckily? It did. The fact that it had no indicator lights of mirrors left on it didn't bother me in the slightest, I needed to get back as fast as possible.

After about half an hour I arrived at Quaid's house, I tried to climb off the bike but I'd been losing blood, and the pain was excruciating, and I just fell onto the ground. I was so light headed but I needed to focus if I was going to get to the checkpoint with Quaid. I climbed back onto my feet, the small rocks on the ground dug into the open flesh on my palms. I slowly walked up to the house, keeping on the look out for any potential attackers. Quaid was already on the front garden, waiting for me.

"For a moment I thought you weren't going to show up!" I ran towards Quaid and we hugged each other, it was good to see somebody that wasn't trying to kill me, and at least my best friend was still alive.

"What happened man? How did they all die?" I started tearing up, up until now I was so focused on getting back to Quaid I hadn't had time to think of anything else.

"Something happened, to Paul I mean. He just... Attacked everybody, your parents come out to try and stop him but... He chased them back inside the house and killed them." Quaid had tears down his face, and so had I. I couldn't believe that they were all dead. All of them.

"We just... Need to focus right now. Get out of here, get to that checkpoint. Whatever's going on, whether they're zombies or it's an invasion, or whatever, we need to get of here. We'll take the Honda Jazz. Any suggestions?"

"You go get the keys, and I'll grab us some supplies, I'll get some food some clothes, whatever I can get."

With that I went next door and I was horrified. I just realized I was going to see the bodies of my parents. Damnitt! What the fuck was going on? I walked into my house and it was the picture of a bomb site. The sofa's had claw marks through the leather, with the majority of the vases and plants on the floor. I navigated through the assault course which used to be my home, and went into the kitchen. I saw blood marks which lead into the main living room. This was it, this is where I would see my dead parents. I followed the blood marks around the corner, and into my living room, and there they were. A pulpy mess on the ground, barely identifiable as humans. I fell to my knees, and I burst into tears. Tears streamed down my face, when I came to the realization... Where was Paul's body? As soon as I had figured this out I heard a scream that broke the sound barrier. Paul ran towards me, screaming into the air like a mad man high off crystal meth. He grabbed onto me and screamed inches from my face.

"Paul! It's me! Shaun! Come on! Remember? We dug into the garden! Flew in you plane!" I was hoping that Paul had some part of his humanity left, that this was all some sort of sick practical joke. But this is the real world. Paul's teeth were getting closer and closer to my neck, he was easily 50lbs heavier than me and I had no chance to outmatch his strength, despite being a bodybuilder. I remembered some of my basic knowledge of KFM and put my foot behind his left leg and pushed my weight onto him. His body fell onto the floor and I was dragged onto him, I lay into him as hard as I could punching as fast as possible into his skull to no avail. I was thrown backwards against the kitchen counter. He climbed back up and tried to tackle me but I moved away at the last second, he went head first into the kitchen counter. I ran over to the top kitchen drawer and grabbed the first knife I came across. Paul ran back towards me and I stabbed him viciously in the chest and I didn't stop. This man was responsible for my parents death he was the reason they were dead. HIM! I kept stabbing him time and time again.

"Shaun! Stop! Stop!"

Quaid grabbed me and threw me across the room.

"It's fine, Shaun it's fine he's dead! Shit I'm sorry I fucking forgot. I'll get the keys and your clothes, I'm sorry I forgot about them." There was genuine sorrow in his voice, this was to much for both of us.

"It's fine. I'm sorry about your Mom and Paul. Let's go."

I'd asked Quaid to drive to Stafford, my palms were ruined from the motorbike accident earlier and I needed to rest. We took the quiet back roads on the way to avoid as much traffic as possible, the world was in chaos. People running and screaming, children in the streets, it was horrible to see the world falling apart. Twenty four hours ago I was dancing in a club, twenty four hours later me and my best friend are facing the fucking apocalypse. I'm nineteen, he's eighteen. We're just kids we're not ready for this, how can anybody be ready for this?

"We're here dude. Get the stuff out of the boot." Quaid sounded tired. We'd been through so much in the past few hours it was already taking it's toll on our bodies.

I got out the car and picked up the suitcase, it was full of our clothes and as much food that would last that we could fit in there. The checkpoint was full barriers and soldiers checking everybody. We had to strip down naked for the army to inspect us, I was taken to one side when they saw how cut up I was but once they were satisfied I wasn't bitten, me and Quaid were escorted to one of the many chinook helicopters.

"So. Where are we being taken to?" I questioned one of the soldiers.

"Quarantine zone." He answered back in a monotonous tone.

"Where? Country side? The coast?" Quaid questioned further.

"No exactly. Choppers taking us to the airport in London. We're being evacuated."

"Where?" Where was safe in a world that seemed to be falling apart?

"This group? Boston. America. Survivors are being taken to the safest parts in the US. Apparently the parasite hasn't hit the yanks yet."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – 20 years later – July 12th 2033

I woke up from a rough nights sleep. Nowadays every night was a rough nights sleep. I was hoping to get a few extra hours on the mattress but a harsh knocking woke me up. I recognized the knock straight away, it was Quaid. The sunlight was refracting through the windows straight into my eyes, making me squint. I hated early mornings. I picked myself up from the mattress, the heat had made me feel wearier than usual. I walked towards the door to my apartment and looked through the peep-hole just in case I was wrong.

It was Quaid.

I proceeded to unlock the door, unhooking the many chains that I had positioned across the door. I didn't trust most people any more, except for Quaid. No telling who would burst into your room in the middle of the night, and put a bullet between your eyes; just to steal your shoes.

"Shipments coming in this afternoon, we're meeting the fireflies near the South tunnel." Quaid burst through the door to my apartment.

"Morning to you to brother. South tunnel? That's John's end right?"

"Yeah, we better set off in the next hour. We'll want to avoid curfew, army will be all over the place." Quaid was straight down to business.

"It's getting harder and harder to smuggle shit in." Army seemed to be patrolling more and more, I don't know how, seeing as a few get killed every week..

"I'll meet you outside. Don't forget to gear up." With that comment he was gone.

I got up and walked towards the mirror, damn I looked old. Thirty nine years old. It seems like yesterday I was just some kid ready to start learning. Twenty years of hell ages you considerably, my once youthful face was gone. My mohawk, which used to be black, was now dotted with grey hairs. Seems pretty ironic now, I was going to be learning about criminals, now I am one. Guess I got to learn about criminals anyway, seeing as me and Quaid have been smuggling this shit for the past ten years. Weapons, clothes, food, whatever. Long as we get our ration cards and a share of the goods we really don't care what it is. I always thought at the age of thirty nine I'd still be bodybuilding, tough reality is that gym's aren't easy to come by in a post-apocalyptic world, and most people don't want a set of dumbbells smuggled into the city. I took Quaid's advice and geared up, I put on my black boots I'd took from a soldier I'd killed, combat trousers Quaid had found me, and a tight fitting navy blue T-Shirt. Baggy shirts could easily be grabbed by the infected, at least that was my excuse, I just like tight T-Shirts.

"Took long enough." Quaid was just as world weary as me, but it hadn't affected our friendship, he was still by best friend, more like a brother. Quaid looked much younger, the apocalypse hadn't affected his appearance as much as it did me. He looked ten years younger than he actually was and has kept his hairstyle a simple grade five all over. His brown hair was still as messy as ever.. He wore the same boots and camo combat trousers, but also wore a dark grey hooded jacket that was zipped half way up to his chest.

"Yeah well, I like to be thorough. I dreamed we were back in England last night." It had been twenty years since the evacuation, it was supposedly safer in America. How wrong we all were, coming to America for nothing. Three and a half thousand miles away from home, and nothing to show for it.

"Me too. I dreamed that we were on Cannock Chase last night. Remember when we had our own little base?" Quaid couldn't help but let out a chuckle, and neither could I.

"Damn, I forgot all about that place. The one filled with asbestos? I'm surprised that didn't end up killing us." Reminiscing was one of the ways we kept ourselves sane, dreaming of the old country. Damn I missed England. I missed home.

We had started walking towards the checkpoint leading to the south side of the city, the south tunnel was only five minutes away. The place was in ruin, graffiti, people half starved, no rations half the time, no wonder people paid us so well to smuggle goods into the city.

"Know what I miss the most?"

"Breaking my toys like an arse-hole?" Quaid always used to break my toys by accident when we were toddlers, I never let him forget it.

"Fuck you. Friday nights at Gaz place." Quaid said with a slight hint of sorrow. At the mention of Gazes' name I must have twitched ever so slightly as he registered it straight away.

"I know man. I miss him to." Shortly after we got into the helicopter Gaz had called Quaid, and we said our goodbyes, just in case we didn't see him again. He'd been taken to a different Quarantine zone in Texas. Anthony, the oldest brother, would be fifty five by now if he was still alive. Last we'd heard from the fireflies, they'd joined the Army. Hopefully if we crossed paths, they wouldn't try to kill us.

We continued to walk through the streets towards the south tunnel, people littered the streets going about their day to day business as normal, well as normal as things could be nowadays. Eventually we reached the south checkpoint, the army had set up checkpoints at the North and South of the quarantine zone to monitor movement throughout the city. There was no queue, so me and Quaid walked straight up to the security gate guard. The steel wall and gate were at least fourteen foot high and felt more like a concentration camp.

"Business?" The soldier was straight to the point, and his thick Texas accent reminded me of Anthony.

"Going to see a friend. Haven't gone to see him in a while." Quaid responded, also straight to the point. We didn't want to stand here and chit-chat.

"Go on through."

As the gate moved a sharp sound reverberated from it's wheels as the years of rust and wear scratched against the ground.

"FUCK!" Just as me and Quaid had walked through the gate an explosion had been set off North side, and the soldiers ran off towards the commotion.

"Marlene's distraction, keep the soldiers on the fireflies and away from us why we get the goods." We had a long history with Marlene, a mutual friendship of sorts. We helped her supply the fireflies inside the city, and she made sure that were well equipped.

"You need to keep my updated with this shit, but damn. Haven't seen that crazy bitch in a while. How is she?" Me and Marlene had our own past.

"Since you abandoned her? She's well." Those days were behind us. We all held on to some sort of hope of a cure at first but, there was no cure for something on this large a scale. The naive of youth. We walked in silence towards the South Tunnel, we navigated our way through buildings that had long since been reclaimed by nature, it was beautiful in a surreal kind of way. Grass and vines had grown over man-made roads and buildings, our creations were falling apart. We walked into the house that contained the south tunnel, and walked through it's corridors of rooms to find John.

"How's traffic?" Again, Quaid asked straight to the point. We liked to keep things short and simple, no emotional attachment that way. No need to get close to something you're going to lose.

"No busier than usual. Had some soldiers inspect the place, dumb fucks couldn't find a thing." John stood up and moved the arm chair he had been sitting on, the trapdoor to the south tunnel was beneath where he was sitting. He was much older than me and Quaid, he was easily sixty and from what we knew about him, it was obvious why he was guarding the tunnel. A veteran of the war of terror, he'd seen action, the soldiers that patrolled the city were kids compared to this hard bastard.

I opened the trap door and Quaid jumped down into the darkness, and I followed him in suit. John closed the trap door above us. Quaid turned on his torch and I did the same, it was pitch black in the tunnel. The tunnel was actually a sewer that people had started to use to get in and out the city without getting caught by any squaddies. I lifted up my shirt slightly to grab my pistol, a suppressed Walther P99 than Marlene had given me five years ago.

"Only have one more mag left, full mag, twelve bullets." Me and Quaid kept each other up to date with our equipment so we knew how capable we were should we get into a fight with the infected or any other foes.

The tunnel was only a five minute walk but nobody could ever be quite sure if any infected had some how got into the tunnel. We continued to walk until we both reached the end of the tunnel, and then turned right into the maintenance room.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Quaid stopped to listen. "Nevermind, I thought I heard something."

I opened the door, and as soon as I had done this I was grabbed by a clicker and dragged into the room dragged me into the room. This clicker was slamming it's fists against my body and sent waves of pain throughout my body, the damn thing was strong and I was dangerously close to being knocked out. I lifted by my gun up in an attempt to shoot it in the head but as it pummelled me with another punch to the stomach I loosened my grip and the gun

*Squaddies, British slang for soldiers.

"Damnitt! Get this fucking thing off of me!" The clicker was getting closer and closer to my face, I thought I was going to get bitten and turn into one of them. The thought of becoming one of the infected give me a new burst of energy and I managed to push the thing away from me. The clicker was only momentarily winded and it lunged back towards me in an attempt to bite me. Just before it managed to latch onto my neck it suddenly dropped to the floor.

"Took you long enough!" I looked towards Quaid with relief.

"Sorry dude, didn't want to risk shooting you in the head. Or would you rather your brains be on the cold concrete?" Quaid replied, the banter kept us two going. What seemed like hostility was in reality how we kept each other motivated. Us British do indeed have a dark sense of humour.

I walked over to my gun and picked it up off the floor and then proceeded to walk towards the now dead clicker. I aimed at it's head, and pulled the trigger. I wanted to make sure the damn thing wasn't going to get back up. God bless Marlene for giving us suppressed weapons, otherwise any infected in the area would already be in this room ripping us to pieces. We went to the far side of the room, which was now generously covered in the blood of the deceased clicker. The poor guy, or girl, can't tell any more after years of infection. We walked to the corner of the room where the trap door was located, the exit where the fireflies would be arriving.

"How long until they arrive?" I questioned.

"Two hours, we'll wait here until then."

"It's time mate." Quaid broke the silence. I had been asleep, dreaming of the events that had transpired twenty years ago, how we'd both changed so much.

"I'll boost you." With that said I climbed to my feet and I leant back against the wall and positioned my hands in front of me. Quaid took a few steps back and ran towards me, he jumped in the air and his right food landed firmly in my hands. I pushed up as hard as I could and he managed to climb through the trap door.

"Alright now help me up."

No answer.

"Dude?"

Silence.

Fuck, he hadn't been shot had he? Damnitt if the fireflies had killed him. I had to get up there. I looked around and saw an old metal shelf, I dragged it across the room, the rusty metal screamed at me as the shelf scrapped against the cold hard floor. I used the shelf as a make shift ladder, and climbed up through the hatch.

Dead. All of them. Every single firefly.

"Oh my God." Quaid was speechless, this wasn't a fire fight, this was a massacre.

"Shit, get down!" I dragged Quaid behind an old car hoping that they hadn't seen us, who had killed our business associates? Always questions.

"Hunters. Looks like Robert's guys. They're putting the weapons into the back of the truck. We can't let them take the gear we need it!" I was angry, not only had they killed our associates, but they were stealing our weapons for their own nefarious practices. Those were our guns! Not theirs!

"Dude come on, another day. We'll find other guns, there's at least a dozen of them, and they're in full combat gear. What do we have? Two pistols - half empty, an old tire iron and a baseball bat with nails through it. They'll slaughter us." Quaid was right, he balanced my rash decisions, and was the voice of reason in this sea of chaos.

Damnitt I couldn't just let them take those guns it was vital that we got them, how many fireflies would die otherwise? It would all be for nothing.

"We pick our fights, and today, we have to walk away. We'll get them back, one way or another." How did Quaid remain so calm?

"Fine. Come on, let's go, before they discover the south tunnel, then we're all fucked. We're gonna go find that son of a bitch personally." I lifted up the hatch as quietly as I could so they didn't hear us. The metal didn't make a sound luckily. Quaid lowered himself down through the trap door as quiet as he could, and I followed him, making sure to lower the trapdoor slowly as to not alert the hunters.

_10 years ago_

"She can't be trusted, you know she can't. We're going to get killed!"

"We don't have a choice. We're not going to let her die."

"Well whatever you do, don't, open, it."

"Whatever you do, don't, make, a sound."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – 20 years later – July 12th 2033

_Four hours later_

"Where's Robert! Tell me!" My fist was covered in blood. In all honesty I wasn't quite sure if it was my blood or his. I couldn't remember how long I'd been beating him for information, the more subtle approach had not worked initially, and I had no ration cards to give him, so after he rudely declined to answer my question I proceeded to use the less subtle approach.

"Stop! Please!" The man was cowering beneath me, his pockets were full of ration cards, more than he should have. Obviously someone wanted some information and this was obviously the guy. Unfortunately for him, he was a pathetic excuse for a man, and I really was not in the mood. My left hand was gripping so tight on his shirt it was ripping it apart.

"Where! Tell me!" My face was inches by his and I could see the fear in his eyes.

"Two people come through earlier, he's through the back! A guy and a girl come round like five minutes or ten minutes ago, come on man let me go!" I threw the man back to the floor, and me and Quaid walked through the door.

"You're going to get us killed one day by doing that." Quaid looked at me, I heard disapproval in his voice, but I didn't care. I knew he was right, but all I was thinking about was the weapons that we'd lost because of Robert.

"What the fuck?" I didn't respond to Quaid's statement, he knew why I did it. What I wanted to know was, why were Robert's men dead? I'd recognized them from earlier, by the South Tunnel. Whoever came here already did our job for us.

"Let's just follow the bodies, keep an eye out for any stragglers." Quaid lead the way, following the trail of bodies left by the two people who'd come here directly before us. I kept checking everywhere, every corner, every shadow. Whoever had come through here was dangerous, and had no problems killing somebody. They were probably a lot tougher, and a lot better equipped than both me and Quaid. We followed the trail of bodies, through corridors with twists and turns and open areas full of old rusty machinery until we heard somebody scream in the distance.

"Who has our guns?" A woman's voice calmly asked. Whatever was going on she was putting Robert in a lot of pain.

"It was the fireflies. I owed the fireflies." I stopped listening at that point. This didn't make sense. Why would he kill the fireflies if he owed them? Stupid thought, why wouldn't he kill them if he owed them? Because he didn't owe them jack shit any more and would be a supply of guns up. 'Selling' the weapons to the fireflies in the city allowed him to find out where the were located, to finish them off. The son of a bitch. My personal feelings didn't matter though, he needed to die. The fireflies had their guns, mine and Quaid's failure didn't matter, the way I see it the job was done. Me and Quaid hid behind a wall and looked through the window into the alleyway. Robert was on the floor obviously in a lot of pain, with two people standing over him. A guy, probably in his fifties, and a woman in her thirties. They looked battle hardened.

"That, is a stupid idea." The woman pointed her gun at Robert's head and fired two shots into his skull.

The deed was done, me and Quaid no longer needed to get our hands dirty.

"They seem like real hard bastards. We might want to get out of here. Before they kill us. Wait. Where's the old timer got to?" In the midst of conversation me and Quaid had not kept an eye on the situation, and in unison – we both looked at the doorway leading to the alley.

"Hands on your heads, turn around. You Robert's men?" The old timer looked rough, but behind the visage of age was obviously decades of experience.

"No! Look, no, we were here for the same reason, the gun-" Quaid was cut off by the old timer before he could finish the sentence.

"Those are our guns!" The old guy had a thick Texas accent and despite his age, was very intimidating.

"Look Marlene hired us to get the guns delivered to the fireflies! Doesn't matter now, this guy basically did it for us!"

"You believe 'em Tess?" Me and Quaid looked at each other and chuckled slightly. Quaid's Dad used to own a dog called Tess, it used to run into walls for some weird reason. Even in the most dire of situations we still tried our best to stay motivated. It kept us alive.

"Ask her yourself. Queen firefly" Tess motioned towards somebody, Marlene entered the building.

"Shaun Mason." She walked towards me and I stood up and smiled.

"It's been a long time Tess. That's a nasty wound there you oka-" Before I could finish my sentence she slapped me square on the right cheek.

"That's for leaving without saying goodbye you son of a bitch!" Marlene was still as fiery as ever. It was attractive, in a strange way.

"In his defence, he did stay in contact." Quaid was quick to my defence, despite having a gun to the back of his head.

"Yeah, through letters, for business. Thanks, real great." Marlene was still hurt from what I did, can't say I blame here. But like I said before, no reason to get emotionally attached to something you're almost certain to lose.

"You know these two Brits?" Tess questioned Marlene, she sounded surprised.

"Yeah. They're smugglers too, they've done a lot of work for the fireflies. Got us a lot of gear." Did I detect a hint of gratitude in Marlene's voice? Or was in contempt? I couldn't honestly say, what with my face still stinging from the slap I'd just received.

"Look I want those guns back."

"Doesn't work like that. I paid for those guns. If you want them back you have to earn them."

"Bullshit!

"I want something smuggled out of the city. You do it for me? You can have your guns back, with a few extra thrown in. You two can help." Marlene looked deadly serious. What was going on? We'd risk our lives to smuggle the stuff in, what was she going to give up all those weapons for, just to smuggle one thing out of the city, and most importantly. What made her think we'll help?

"What makes you think we're going to help? We smuggle stuff in the city, not out. Do you know what it's like out there? I'm not talking about the infected!" I wasn't angry, I was scared. I knew what was outside the city, what people had become. Any humanity they had left was purged from their systems, they'd given up morals in exchange for survival. Understandable, but it was ugly.

"Trust me. After I show you the amount of guns we've hoarded? You'll want to help."

"I don't care how many guns you have, we're not doing it!" Quaid didn't sound scared, he was angry.

"Come see what you're smuggling. You'll want to help." Marlene looked at the four of us. A few moments ago we were trying to get the guns back from Robert, so she already had the guns, and now we're trying to get them for ourselves, to smuggle one thing out of the city? I think it's curiosity which made me do what I did next.

"We'll do it." I said in a calm monotonous voice.

"What? Are you insane!? You're going to get us killed!" Quaid argued back, he was inches from my face. "What is it with you lately!? You're taking more and more chances, one day we're going to be dead and it'll be your fault!"

"Look we do this, one job? We'll have enough guns and ammunition for a lifetime. We'll survive. We've been through worse."

_10 years ago_

Me and Quaid were on the outskirts of the city, standing next to an old 4x4 Hummer that we'd found a while back. The are was quiet, and the view of the city was fantastic. Nature was claiming back what mankind had made. It almost looked peaceful in a way. Marlene was with us, and she's asked me and Quaid to smuggle a child. This job seemed like it was impossible at the time. It was almost impossible to get anything in or out of the Quarantine Zone it was on full lock down 24/7, let alone a kid.

"You want us to smuggle her in? How?" How the fuck would we get a kid, a six year old kid, into the city without getting caught; I wondered.

"That's for you to figure out. I just need her in the city, you get us in safely, and you'll get your ration cards." Marlene was tight lipped about why she wanted her in. As long as we got paid, we didn't care.

"I've got an idea, she's pretty small right?" Quaid always was creative.

"Love that you're asking me that. Look at her, she's tiny." I immediately regretted saying that out loud because the little girl hid behind Marlene. She was scared of me, and it made me feel pretty bad about myself. Like I was the bogeyman in the dark.

Quaid walked over to the hummer and opened the boot and removed the backing and threw out the spare tire, which left a small opening in the trunk, enough space to fit a small child. Hummer tires were massive, it would be roomy for the kid.

"She can get in there. She'll fit." Perfect, the solution to our problem. Quaid looked proud of himself, and sent a gentle smile towards the little girl, who in turn smiled back.

"Alright Marlene, put the kid in the boot and put the cover back on." Marlene did exactly what I said straight away. I took Quaid to one side out of earshot from Marlene so she could not here what me and Quaid would be saying.

"She can't be trusted, you know she can't. We're going to get killed!" I whispered to Quaid.

"We don't have a choice. We're not going to let her die." He retorted, and he was right. How could we just let a kid die? I walked towards the hummer and looked inside the boot towards the small child we had just placed into the car.

"Well whatever you do, don't, open, it." I said in a quiet and soft voice so she could understand without being scared of me.

"Whatever you do, don't, make, a sound." Quaid also told her, the little girl gave us a nod to inform us she understood.

* * *

"We can sneak past them. I know it's not your style but we'll see how it goes." Marlene had noticed a few soldiers up ahead still looking for us. They had heard the gunshots from Tess.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way. Real subtle killing him with an unsupressed pistol." I said with a hint of disdain towards Tess. She knew soldiers were in the area, and a gunshot would alert them easily.

"Subtle? Fuck you! You beat a man half to death because you didn't have any ration cards to give!" Tess walked towards me, she looked like she was going to beat me half to death for questioning her judgement.

"Alright pipe down, the both of you. We can go all Maury right here right now, or we can sneak past these soldiers. I'd rather not get into a firefight with a bunch of trigger happy ass-holes." Like Quaid was for me, Tess was the voice of reason in Tesses ear.

"Follow me. Keep quiet and keep low, nobody has to know we're here." Marlene lead the way, we followed her through what looked like an empty warehouse, moving slowly from cover to cover so we were not seen or heard from any soldiers. We slowly inched up the staircase to the roof.

"I count three." Tess informed Joel.

"Let's move past them, slowly, we don't have to fight. No need to alert any other people of our whereabouts." Marlene was remarkably calm despite the situation. I'd remembered her being a lot more jumpy. I guess being Queen Firefly builds confidence.

Marlene, Joel and Tess moved left, and followed the outskirts of the roof, attempting to move without being noticed. We let the three of them move to the far staircase first, observing the soldiers as they moved from cover to cover. When they had finally reached it, we decided to follow. I followed the same route that Marlene had sneaked through, and I reached the staircase, Quaid then followed me, but just as he was about to move to the next cover, a soldier decided to walk towards him. Quaid bumped right into the soldier. Realizing what was going to happen if he didn't react quickly, Quaid threw a quick punch to the soldiers throat so he couldn't shout and alert the other soldiers. In the moment of confusion, he grabbed the soldier, ran towards the ledge, and threw him off the roof. Silence.

I gestured towards Quaid that it was clear and he followed me. That was close, to close. We were having a lot of close calls lately and I was beginning to worry that we were getting old. Then I remembered hold old and capable Joel was, and immediately pushed the thought to the back of my mind, just as fast as it had entered. We slowly descended the stairs and entered what looked like a storage area.

"So where exactly are you taking us Marlene?" I questioned. Curiosity had brought me here, but that close call had almost made me change my mind.

"You'll see soon enough." She responded, giving none of us any hints to what was going on.

We followed her up a staircase which lead to a sturdier door which I helped her open. As I opened the door she fell forward onto the floor, the pain from her wound was to much to bare.

"Whoah, hold on there sweet heart." I leant forward to help Marlene up, then I felt a sharp pain in the side of my right leg.

"Ah! Fuck!" I fell over in pain, my right leg was bleeding profusely. I looked over my shoulder and a familiar face lunged towards me with a knife.

"Not so fast there you little shit!" Quaid come to my rescue as he grabbed the teenage girl by the wrist and twisted slightly so she dropped the knife. Luckily she hadn't stabbed me with enough force to seriously wound me, just enough to injure me, then I realized something. Why she was familiar. Quaid glanced towards me, like he'd realized at the exact same time.

"That's not possible." I said, still astounded by the chances.

* * *

_10 years ago_

"Keep your head down, don't make a sound."

"Shh, everything's going to be fine. You're going to be alright."

"We'll keep you safe from the bad men, don't worry."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Journey – July 13th 2033

"Wake up." Ellie was shaking my shoulder to wake up me. I'd been up since early that morning, and sleep and rest was a luxury I did no want to waste, especially in my line of work. I refused to get out of bed and in response to that, Ellie decided to kick me in the side of the leg, where she had stabbed me earlier.

"Ah! Fuck! What did you do that for!?" Pain traveled up the side of my leg, it was agony. The bleeding had long since stopped but the pain would remain for at least a week.

"Get up you lazy shit, we have to go." With that comment Ellie walked back towards a window. We were in Joel's apartment, it was high enough to see both the outskirts of the city and the city itself, a contrast between what once was and what is now. How times had changed. Ellie sat down in an old wooden chair, and stared at the city. The rain was patting gently against the window. The dark sky almost made this life seem peaceful. I climbed out of bed and walked towards Ellie, the pain in my leg forcing me to limp slightly. Calling it a bed was being generous, it was a sofa that used to be cream colored.

"You're lucky I'm a gentleman. So, do you remember me?" I questioned her, she must had known who me and Quaid were.

"Yeah, I remember." Ellie didn't move and inch, she continued to look outside the window. "I've never been this close to the outside before." So she changed the subject, obviously holds some sort of resentment towards me. Can't say I blame her.

"Well... That brings back memories. Something you probably won't remember."

"What?" Before I could exaggerate Quaid, Tess and Joel all walked back in. Joel had been keeping a look out, outside the door, just in case the soldiers had somehow tracked us.

"I saw the merchandise, it's a lot." Tess said to Joel, her body language seemed to suggest that she was excited to get start this job so we could get paid. Can't say that I was feeling the same way as she.

"Alot is an understatement, it's a fucking gold mine dude. I put some of the weapons in my backpack for us." Quaid was even more excited than Tess, I hadn't seem him this happy in a while.

"You stole from Marlene?" Joel looked at Quaid, I couldn't tell if it was disapproval or consenting.

"I didn't steal anything, those guns are ours anyway, way I see it it's a down payment." Quaid took the bag off his back and placed it in the middle of the floor.

"What did you take man?" Taking the weapons was a wise decision on Quaid's half, it increased our chances of survival from most certainly getting killed, to almost certainly getting killed.

"Something called an M1 Garrand, two MP5s, a SPAS 12 and a USP 45." That was, an old WW2 semi-automatic rifle, two SMGs, a shotgun and a pistol. I took the M1 Garrand, Joel and Tess took the MP5's and Quaid took the SPAS 12.

"Who's the pistol for?" Joel questioned, and then he realized. "No, uh uh no way. She's a kid, she's never fired a gun before in her life."

"How do you know!? Besides, I can take care of myself!" Ellie was on the verge of shouting at Joel.

"Mate we're going outside the city, it's dangerous enough in here. Out there? It's ten times worse. The infected, the hunters, not to mention the cannibals." I honestly thought Joel would have already known.

"Don't lecture me boy, I know well enough what lies outside those walls." If Joel was scared he hid it well behind a wall of well practiced intimidation.

"I'm siding with Shaun on this one Joel. The kid's gotta defend herself. One day she's gonna need to, may as well teach her how on the way." Joel looked at Tess, a sense of disbelief emanated from his face, the fact that she had sided with two strangers instead of him seemed to hurt him slightly.

"Are we gonna do this? I'd like to get my presents by Christmas. Santa ain't gonna wait forever." Now that Quaid had seen the weapons, his original reluctance to take this job had turned to motivation.

* * *

_10 years ago_

"Here. Take these. Just in case." Marlene handed me and Quaid two suppressed pistols.

We approached the security gate to the Boston Quarantine Zone. A huge wall guarded the city from the outside wall, with a steel wire security gate with two tall towers on either side. Two security guards stood on either side of the gate, with a soldier placed in each tower. As we approached the gate a soldier gestured for us to stop, and approach the driver side window.

"What's your business?" I gave the soldier the papers we had been given as cover from Marlene. Signed and dated by the local Sergeant, a nasty piece of work named Sergeant Miller. Of course in reality he hadn't signed a damn thing, and the papers were really simple forgeries.

"Visiting her Mother, we received a letter a few weeks back that she was dying. Just made it in time for her to say goodbye." It was complete bullshit. We'd lied and forged the papers. The soldiers nowadays were tired, bored, underfed and under trained.

"Yeah. She was very sick. But I'm glad I got to say goodbye before the end." Marlene's face erupted in emotion, tears streamed down her face. It was scary how she could just cry like that, no wonder she always got what she wanted.

"Alright. You'll have to go through clearance. Check you're not infected, go ahe-"

"WAIT!"

Shit. It was Sergeant Miller. How didn't I notice him? More importantly, how the fuck were we going to get out of this mess?

"Let me see those papers." He grabbed the letters from the Private, and glanced at the signature and date. "Like hell did I sign these God damn papers!" The second he said that, the four soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at the car.

"Just what are you doing then eh? Smugglers I bet, but what are you smuggling eh?" His voice was laced with anger and contempt. He was a rough looking bastard, with a face covered in battle scars accumulated over the past two decades of what could only be described as a war.

"As we just said to that soldier, we only went to visit her mother." I was grabbing on threads here but it was worth a shot.

"I've seen you types before, smugglers, looking for an easy pay day." He slowly walked over to the boot of the hummer.

"She was dying!" Marlene was still sticking to the story.

He opened the boot.

"We're not smugglers, we just went to visit her Mom!" We were all desperately clutching onto our story, hoping he would believe us, but we all knew he wouldn't.

"Like I believe you." And just as he said that, he removed the bottom of the boot, to uncover the area for the spare child. "What the? It's a kid! It's a fucking kid!"

"Drive!" Quaid grabbed Marlene and forced her head down between the seats as bullets flew through the window. He didn't have to tell me twice, the adrenaline coursing through my veins kicked in, I slammed down the gas pedal and released the clutch, driving into the two soldiers fortunate enough to be standing directly in front of the car. Their bodies flew over the top of the car and the Sergeant had to dive out of the way to avoid being crushed by the two broken bodies crashing towards him. The car smashed through the security gate into the city. Luckily the Army were vastly understaffed, and were being kept busy by the fireflies, a diversion Marlene had set up to make sure that we could get into the city just in case things when up shit creek. Shit. Yeah we could make it into the city, but the two remaining soldiers and Sergeant Miller knew our faces. They'd hunt us down and run us from the city, we had to kill them.

"We can't run, we have to kill them." I slammed the brakes on and turned the steering wheel left to position the car on it's side; the vehicle came to an abrupt stop.

"Are you fucking insane?" Marlene was practically begging me to drive.

"There's three of them and three of us." I had to stay calm, otherwise my emotions would take over and we'd all be fucked. I'd never had to kill anybody who wasn't infected yet, and I wasn't sure how I'd react.

"Yeah, three soldiers against three idiots dumb enough to get caught. Come on dude we're gonna fucking die!" Quaid was just as scared as me. Neither of us had killed yet, and here we were against two heavily armed trigger happy soldiers.

"Marlene keep your head down and stay in the car with the kid, Quaid get out the car with me." We both ran out the car and stayed behind it as cover. Bullets were still bouncing off the car, the ricochets were deafening and it felt like any one of them was going to kill us any second now.

"What's your plan then? Get us shot?" Quaid wasn't very optimistic at our chances, and truth be told neither was I.

"Killing that sergeant will be simple, he's just standing there like a twat. The other two? That's where it get's dangerous. You lay down covering fire, and I'll shoot him while he's distracted and for fuck's sake don't get fucking shot!" Quaid nodded at me to say he understood. I grabbed the pistol Marlene had given me. I took a deep breath. My hands were shaking, and I was sweating. This could be where I die, or where I kill a man. Killing him was a lesser evil, but it was still an evil nonetheless. I was biased anyway, It was them or us.

Quaid began to lay down covering fire, blind firing bullets from the left side of the car towards the sergeant. The sergeant ran towards his left, which was my right, to avoid getting shot. I leaned out from the right side of the hummer and took aim at the sergeant. I pulled the trigger and opened fire at my target after firing the first three bullets I closed by eyes and fired the rest of the magazine. When I ran out of ammo and opened my eyes, I noticed that I had been successful. The sergeant was dead, but I now had an empty gun.

"He's dead"

"I noticed. We need to kill those fuckers in the towers now. You take the one on the left and I'll take the one on the right. We'll run for it, don't be slow, and get directly under the tower and climb up the ladder as fast as you can. Hopefully they'll use the entire magazine by the time we get to the tower. We'll only have a few moments to get to the top of the tower before they reload so for fuck's sake get a move on." I was still shaking, I was terrified. I didn't want to die. I didn't want Quaid to die either, but we didn't have a choice.

"And what if they reload in time?" Quaid brought up a valid point.

"Then we get shot, fall off the ladder, and die." It was the harsh reality of the situation.

"Well we better get a fucking move on hadn't we?" And with that said both me and Quaid ran towards the respective tower's we had agreed on.

Bullets were narrowly missing me all around as I ran towards the bottom of the towers. I focused on the tower, running as fast as my body would let me. The bullets had stopped just as I reached the bottom of the tower, I grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb up to the soldier. I glanced up quickly and noticed he'd just ejected the magazine, I only had a few precious seconds until he had reloaded. I began to climb the ladder with furious pace, taking the ladder by every three rungs. I glanced up again, and he had the new magazine in his hand. I had to reach the top in time or it would be over and with that realization, I climbed the ladder even faster and just as I reached the top I heard a click. Without thinking I looked up and grabbed the gun that I knew was pointed at my face and threw a quick punch towards the soldiers groin. The soldier stumbled and loosened his grip on the rifle, enough for me to move the gun out of the way and climbed to my feet. With my left hand still on the rifle I wildly swung at him with my right hand but he ducked underneath my punch and managed to strike me in the stomach with his right hand. I buckled over, winded and in pain but still refusing to release the weapon.

He swung at me again but this time I blocked the punch with my right hand, and then grabbed the rifle out of his hands. I gripped the rifle and I tried to shoot him but he pushed the rifle from my hands. My grip was weakened from being winded by him, the rifle had fell off the tower and hit the ground beneath us.

The soldier grabbed me by the head and began to throw punch after punch into my stomach, each punch seemed to hurt me more than the last and I was struggling to stay conscious. I managed to break free of his grip, and grabbed his head and began to throw my own punches towards him. I threw a left hook to his nose which gave a deafening crack, it was certainly broken, the soldier was obviously in pain as he was now screaming in agony. Taking advantage of this I grabbed him by the head and attempt to smash the side of his skull off the hip high fence that separated us from the top of the tower, and the ground 20 feet below. Before his skull could hit the fence he placed his hands on the fence to counteract the force, and elbowed me in the face. I stumbled back and he grabbed me and ran me towards the fence. He pushed me over the side and I just about managed to grip on top of the fence, otherwise I'd have been a pancake on the road. I looked up towards him and he was about to stab me in the hand so I let go of the fence, and ended up on the ground, dead. I decided to not allow him the opportunity. Taking advantage of my strength, I grabbed him by his combat vest and dragged from the top of the tower, over the fence, and just before I'd be dragged with him, I let go of him. All I heard was screaming, and a deafening crack as his body hit the ground. I quickly glanced towards Quaid and saw that he was on top of the soldier, punching wildly at his face. It was obvious the soldier was already dead, but Quaid was filled with blood-lust.

Quaid made eye contact with me, and we nodded at each other. I climbed down the ladder and walked back to the hummer, past the bullet riddled body of the sergeant.

The kid was crying. Marlene was attempting to comfort her but her face was red and streaming with tears, it was heartbreaking.

"We're gonna get you out of here okay? Don't worry, I'm so so sorry." Marlene hugged the child and she instinctively hugged back, I had already deduced that it was not Marlene's kid.

"Keep your head down, don't make a sound." Quaid had walked up behind me, his fists covered in the blood of the now dead soldier.

"Shh, everything's going to be fine. You're going to be alright." Marlene was still attempting to hug the child, but there didn't seem to be any stopping her tears.

"We'll keep you safe from the bad men, don't worry." I don't know why, but I was compelled to keep the child safe in a world that was unforgiving.

"We're going to need to get rid of the bodies, and hide the car, otherwise we're gonna get caught." Marlene was right.

"What do we do?" Quaid was out of ideas, fortunately for him I wasn't.

"I know a guy." But they wouldn't like him.

* * *

_10 years ago_

"That's some fine quality meet you got there, a bit broken, but it'll last us a week or two."

"Just get through it. I don't care what you do."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Outside – July 14th 2033

"Wow. We're actually outside." Ellie was like a kid in a candy store. She was amazed by the outside world. It was nice, in a surreal sort of way, being outside the walls of the enclosed city. It was the only sense of freedom we had in a world with no rules.

"Yeah. Ain't much to look at now is it?" Joel was considerably less optimistic about the world we lived in, and for good reason. The man looked like he'd seen to much for one lifetime.

We were just outside the city. The ground was littered in rocks, old cars, and pipes. The remnants of a bygone age.

"Soldiers up ahead. I count three." Tess was right, three soldiers directly ahead looking for the people who had killed Robert earlier. Ironically in a post apocalyptic world, murder was still illegal. "Whatever happens, you stick with Joel. Got it kid?" Tess whispered towards Ellie. Ellie nodding in response, not wishing to speak for fear of alerting the soldiers in the area.

Tess crouched down and we all followed her and hid behind a rusted old car. Ellie was doing as told, staying close to Joel. The soldiers had split off from each other, with one walking towards our left and the other two walking towards our right. They looked tired, and tired people made mistakes. That being said we were all tired as well.

"I can take out the two on the right. Quietly. Tess you take him on the left." Joel gestured for Ellie to stay behind the car, as he slowly moved towards me and Quaid to the right of the car.

"See that's what I like about you Americans, always trying to show strength. We could just, you know, sneak around them. Quietly." There was no need for a fight, it would be much easier and much more efficient to just get around them rather than kill them.

"And what in the hell makes you think they won't see us? There's five of us, take 'em out now and we won't have to worry." Joel raised a valid point, but I was confident in our abilities, despite the fact that there was some kid with us. A kid that I needed to keep safe.

"Alright. You take them out Texas, and I'll take out him on the left." Tess kept low, and moved from cover to cover, closer and closer to the solider that was standing to our left.

"What's she gonna do?" Ellie questioned Quaid. The curiosity of a kid.

"Just, ah look away you shouldn't be seeing this shit." Quaid was trying to be responsible, but we both knew she was going to watch anyway.

"I'm gonna need to do it anyway one day so." Ellie was right. Just looking at her made me feel sad, knowing that she's growing up in a world where she'll have to kill, she'll have to commit atrocities that nobody should have to do, just so she could survive in a world that was tearing itself apart.

Tess grabbed her knife from her waistband, a nine inch hunting blade and judging by it's condition, it had a story or two to tell. Tess grabbed the soldier and simultaneously covered his mouth while she brought the blade around his front and straight into his heart.

Meanwhile Joel had done the same, moving from cover to cover to get closer to the two soldiers on our right. He sneaked up behind the two soldiers and grabbed the soldier on his left by the head, and threw his entire weight to smash his skull off the wall. Blood generously coated the wall. The other soldier must have heard the crack of the skull off the brick wall and turned around in time to see Joel tackle him to the ground. Joel straddled the soldier and immediately began to lay punch after punch into his face with incredible speed until the soldier was no longer struggling to escape.

"Christ." Ellie looked on in disbelief. "Doesn't it bother you? Killing people like that?" Ellie asked me. Her eyes looked sad, like she was staring right into my soul.

"Well it wouldn't make us very good at surviving if it did." I answered, trying not to give to much away.

"I don't believe you." The kid was smart.

"It's because he's lying. It's ugly. The ugliest thing you could ever do. Just hope you don't have to do it any time soon." Quaid always knew when I was telling the truth or telling a lie, he was right to tell Ellie the truth.

"Come on, let's move up." Tess gestured for us to follow her. We stayed low and moved from cover to cover, observing our surroundings to make sure that no other soldiers spotted us.

We climbed into a metal container with both ends open. We slowly walked through, just a few more steps and we'd be well on our way to getting Ellie out of the city, and on the way to the fireflies. Maybe I would see some old friends. We'd walked through the container and reached the other side.

"Hands up."

Shit. I turned around and saw two soldiers, a man and a woman, who were now pointing guns at all five of us.

* * *

_10 years ago_

"Have you done it yet?" Impatience resonated through Marlene's voice.

"You know, you're welcome to fucking help us." Quaid was struggling to put the now dead Sergeant Miller's body into the back of the hummer. I had already put the other bodies in the car, we just had to deliver the bodies to a particularly sketchy individual.

"Come on, put your back into it!" Winding up Quaid was one of the only pleasures I had in this world any more, the banter kept us motivated to keep pushing forward, to keep surviving.

"Why don't you put you back into it!?" Quaid shouted back at me, a look of annoyance displayed across his face as he picked the body up into the boot of the car. The corpse slumped over the top of where the little girl was hiding, same drill as before until we were sure she was completely safe.

With all of us in the car we set off driving into the city, leaving no bodies behind. As we drove further into the city it seemed to get more decrepit by the mile. This once flourishing city was now a wreck, people half starved to death littered the streets, children no longer played and laughed like the days before this shit storm. It just made me miss England.

"So where are we headed man?" Quaid was riding shotgun with me.

"You already know him mate."

"Who are we going to Shaun?" Marlene questioned me further.

"Look for your sanities sake Marlene, it's best that we keep you out of the loop here." It was best she didn't know where we were taking the bodies, or who to for that matter.

* * *

We drove for another ten minutes deeper and deeper into the city, until we reached the correct alleyway.

"We're here. Marlene, take the kid. I'll move the bodies first, she doesn't need to see them. Quaid, hide the car. You know where to put it." Quaid nodded, he'd found the perfect hiding spot to hide the hummer.

I proceeded to remove the bodies one by one and placed them in front of the car so the kid wouldn't see them. We took off the covering for the spare tire and the little girl climbed out. Quiet as a mouse.

"You know where to come, when you're done here doing whatever it is you're doing, come collect your payment." With that said, Marlene took the little girl by the hand, and walked off into the city. She would be safer here than on the outside.

"I'll meet you at Marlene's man. Be careful, that guys a fucking psycho." Quaid

"I know man. Don't worry. Keep the gun Marlene give you close." Quaid reversed out of the alleyway and drove off, the wheels kicking dirt up into the air.

Now it was time for me to take care of these bodies. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and knocked on the metal door in the alleyway. I waited. One of the most insane and disgusting individuals I have had the displeasure of meeting in this life would answer the door, but I needed him right now.

The door opened, and a Caucasian male of average height, sporting a goatee answered the door.

"Shaun. It's been a while, how are things?" On the outside the man was calm, kind, and collected, but I know a deeper evil lurked inside him.

"Let's just get down to business." The sooner I got this over with the sooner I got out of here.

"My my, you have been busy now haven't you?" He looked at the three bodies on the ground.

"Help me get them inside." I grabbed the body of sergeant Miller and hoisted his corpse on my shoulder and walked inside and dropped the body on one of the many metal tables. Bodies were strung up by the ceiling, blood dripped down onto the floor, leading into drains which were scattered about the room. I was struggling to contain my fear, there was a good chance that I could end up being strung up and killed.

"Now then let's see what we got here." The man had startled me, he was standing directly behind me and I had no idea that he had even brought the other two bodies in. "I understand, it can be unsettling to be around death. Especially the bodies of the people you just killed. What did you do?"

"Let's just get this over with." I wasn't going to let him get into my head, I had to stay calm and collected if I was going to get out of here alive. Any show of weakness and i'd be done for. "That's some fine quality meet you got there, a bit broken, but it'll last us a week or two." He looked at the bodies, admiring mine and Quaid's handy work.

"Just get through it. I don't care what you do." I thought I was going to be sick. The way he was looking at the corpses with such lust disturbed me.

"Have you ever tried it?" He starred at me, I couldn't read him. I had no idea what was going through his head but I had to keep my answers short, and directly to the point.

"Tried what?" I knew what he meant.

"The meat. Human meat." The man licked his lips.

"No. Look. Take the bodies, do what you want with them. Just make sure they disappear. Take them for free, I'm going." And with that I started to walk out, when I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"Why don't you sample the meet with me?" He whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "I insist." And with that, David led me over to the body of Sergeant Miller.

* * *

_Present day_

"We can make it worth your while." Tess said to the female soldier, desperately trying to bargain our way out of this.

"Shut up." It was clear there wasn't a way for us out of this easily. The soldier had one of those portable hand scanners and was scanning all of us. Just as he got to Ellie, she suddenly lunged towards the male soldier and stabbed him in the leg with a small pocket knife she had been concealing. The soldier screamed in agony and dropped to the floor. Joel drew his revolver and shot the man in he head, while Tess grabbed the female soldier by the neck and stabbed her through the heart.

"Oh shit! I thought we were just going to hold 'em up!" Ellie was visibly shaken, contributing to the death of two soldiers, especially at a young age, would shake anybody up.

"Come on, we gotta go. Capitol buildings not far, if we set off now we can make it by dawn." Joel didn't seem eager to start this journey, but the sooner we got it over with, the sooner we got home. The problem is, me and Quaid both knew that the fireflies were not going to be at the Capitol building, alive at least.

"They're not gonna be there. The fireflies I mean.

"And how the hell d'you know that? Marlene's Queen Firefly. She knows where her people are."

"We used to be fireflies to, when we were young and naïve. She might be the leader but she can't keep an eye on everything, and last we heard they were heading to a University in Colorado." We'd kept in contact with a few of our old associates. By the sound of things it was a good choice.

"And why would we believe you? Two Brits we've never met before and you think we're just gonna follow you?" Joel didn't seem to like to work with us, and the feeling was mutual.

"Look, I don't like this either but we ha-" Before I could finish my sentence Joel cut me off

"Oh Shit. Look." Tess had picked up the scanner and threw it to Joel.

"Jesus Christ. Marlene, she set us up." Joel barely contained the anger in his voice.

"No, she can't have, you wouldn't have." I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it.

"She can't be infected look at her, she looks fine! There'd be signs!" Quaid was in disbelief.

"See for yourself, UK." Tess threw the scanner towards me and Quaid. In bold red letters, it showed that Ellie was indeed – infected. I couldn't believe it. Marlene wouldn't set us up? We'd worked together for so long!

"I'm not infected!" Ellie was terrified, we were all surrounding her, I myself was on the verge of pulling out my walther and shooting her between the eyes myself.

"No? So that thing was lying?" Joel threw the scanner at Ellie, a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes.

"Why the fuck are we smuggling an infected girl out of the city!" Quaid

"Oh fuck you; you're the one's who smuggled me in; in the first place!" Ellie

"What? What the fuck's she talking about?" Tess starred at me and Quaid. We didn't have to explain ourselves, not right now at least!

"That doesn't matter right now! What matters is that she's got the parasite!" I shouted back at Tess, this wasn't the time!

"Look I can explain." Ellie looked like she was about to cry, but she held herself together with remarkable will power.

"You better explain fast." Tess pointed her pistol at Ellie's head.

"It's three weeks old." Ellie pulls up shirt. "Everyone turns within two days but it's three weeks, I swear. Marlene wouldn't set you up!"

"She could have fucking told us." I was relieved that Marlene hadn't betrayed us, but at the same time I was annoyed she hadn't told us.

"I ain't buying it." Joel pointed his revolver at Ellie's head.

* * *

_Ten years ago_

"Would you like a bite?"

"No."

"I didn't meant to imply that you had a choice."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Bon Appetite – July 14th 2033

"Tess. Run. RUN!" Joel stopped pointing his pistol and instantly grabbed Tess by the arm and fled. I was confused, but I looked behind me, and saw an Army Hummer driving directly towards us. Without hesitation we all ran and followed Joel, jumping down into a huge trench. We stayed low and stayed quiet, desperately hoping that they had not seen or heard us.

"Holy shit! I got two dead uniforms. I repeat. I got two causalities in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate backup." Shit. That's just what we needed. The fucking military after us, if they found us we'd be minced meat.

"Follow me. Quickly." Tess motioned for us all to follow. It had been a long time since I'd been outside the city walls properly, and I didn't recognise anything. I just hoped Joel and Tess did. We ran towards cover, an old wall that had long since started to fall apart.

"Alright Ellie. When I give you the signal, we run. You two, keep an eye on our rear but don't fall behind." I wasn't going to argue with her, she was a natural leader.

"Alright. Run". Tess ran towards the edge of the trench, following the wall that would hopefully lead to an exit. We all followed her, Ellie staying close to Joel's heels as she had been instructed to earlier.

"Keep out of the lights. If they see us, we're done for." Quaid said, keeping his voice low but loud enough for just us to hear. We kept moving from cover to cover, keeping close to the wall of the trench so we wouldn't be in the lights from the soldiers guns.

"Okay it's gonna be another sprint. You ready Ellie?" Tess looked towards Ellie.

"Sure. Yeah." Ellie started to sprint with us. As a fourteen year old girl she had a lot more energy and stamina than us, I was already beginning to tire. We ran through the trench, jumping over obstacles, ducking under old pipes, it was like going through basic training in the military.

"God dammit. They're everywhere." Joel sounded worried, like he was unsure if we were going to get out of this alive. If we was worried, I was worried. I could tell the guy was a professional. We ducked down into an old sewage pipe, climbing through it. Despite the fact that the sewage pipes hadn't been used for years the stench was unbearable. As we emerged from the end we jumped down into another deep trench, landing in a puddle of water.

"This is bullshit. This is impossible. They're fucking all over the place." I was angry, angry at Marlene, angry at myself, angry that I was even in this situation.

"Stay calm dammit. We can do this." Tess reassured me. She really was a natural leader.

"Stay down don't let 'em see you." Just as Joel give us that piece of advice...

"There! Got 'em! Shoot to kill!" A soldier pointed his gun at us and opened fire. The flash-light on rifle temporarily blinded me, and I felt a hand grab onto me and pull me out of it's beam. Quaid had started running already and dragged me out of the soldiers line of fire.

We ran through the trench, bullets flying past us at every turn.

I tried to count how many soldiers there were but I was concentrating on not falling over and get shot through the head. Ellie was following Joel as close as she possibly could, doing her best to not meet her end in this trench.

"Holy shit they're fucking everywhere!" Ellie was sprinting along side Joel still.

Tess suddenly screamed out in pain. I turned around. She was in the dirt, a bullet had shot her right through her left knee and she'd keeled over in pain.

"Tess!" Joel ran towards Tess, but before he got to her. Another bullet had been fired, this time through her skull. She lay there, still and motionless, her empty eyes starring up at Joel.

"Come on! Get a fucking move on!" Quaid grabbed Joel by the wrist, beckoning him to keep running. We were sitting ducks out in the open!

"Get off me!" Joel pushed Quaid back and I ran to his aid. We both grabbed Joel and ran with him, not giving him a choice. He was fighting back, desperately trying to get to her body, but we needed him alive. Besides, I wasn't going to let him die for no reason.

We kept running, and Joel stopped fighting us and ran with us. Ellie hadn't left our side the entire time and she was handling the situation quite well. My fourteen year old self would be in tears already. We finally reached a safe area where we could catch our breath and decide what to do next, we were in another sewage pipe.

"Listen. Joel. About Tess back there?" Ellie was trying to comfort Joel, but Joel really couldn't care less about that right now. He was to angry at me and Quaid for dragging him away.

"Here's how it's gonna go. Nobody mentions Tess, ever. Not you Ellie, and especially not you two Brits." I didn't wanna piss the old timer off so I got straight down to business.

"How are we gonna get to the University then?" I asked Joel. Joel, not to long ago, was happy enough to take Ellie to the capitol building, but with the University being so far away, I could tell he wasn't looking forward to the journey. Truth be told I don't think any of us were.

"Well. I know a guy, owes me a favour. Colorado's pretty far so we need a car."

Me and Quaid looked at each other. We had a car, but weren't to fond of taking it all the way to Colorado, chances are we wouldn't get it back here. Best keep that to ourselves for the time being. In a post apocalyptic world it's fucking hard to get hold of a car, let alone one in good working condition.

"Right. Who and where?" I questioned Joel. I was wary about who we worked with, working with Joel was dangerous enough but at least they seemed trust worthy. The more and more people we bring into this though, the more complicated it will get.

"Guy called Bill. Not to far from here." Joel was deep in thought. The wrinkles on his face gave him a natural frown, when he was actually frowning? Scary was an understatement. "He helps get us goods to smuggle into the city." From what we'd seen so far Joel was dangerous, and it's safe to assume that this Bill guy is dangerous to in his own right.

"I know him. He's that crazy bastard. Lives in that city alone right? You sure he's not gonna put a bullet in us?" Quaid knew him to? The fuck? I don't remember anybody called Bill, let alone some guy that ruled his own kingdom.

"I admit, he's a bit unhinged, but he's a good guy. Just let me do the talking." It seemed like the plan was going to go ahead but I had a few queries of my own.

"Wait whoah, hold back a bit here. Are you sure we can trust this guy? I trust you Quaid but, fuck the guy lives on his own in a town. That's bound to drive you a bit mental." Loneliness can drive anybody over the edge, let alone in a world where most of the population are either infected or about to kill you.

"Trust me." That was all Quaid said, and I did.

* * *

**10 years ago**

David stood me in front of Sergeant Miller's corpse, his body still dripping blood from the several bullets I had shot in him earlier. His body was already starting to stink, not that it mattered. The room was full of bodies that smelled worse than a sewer full of dog shit.

"Now, what would you like to try? Arm? Leg? How about some rib?" David walked over to a metal drawer, and grabbed his machete. It was a well used blade, covered in blood.

"Look if we're done here. I'd like to leave." This wasn't a battle of brute strength. It was a battle of wits, a battle I was losing so far.

"We're not done here. So, you stay. At least try some of the product you've brought me?" It was an order disguised as a question. David walked back closer towards me.

"Look you stay back from me alright? Just stay back! I'm not going to eat any fucking human meat!" I started to walk back, slowly. I finally cracked, he'd gotten to me and now he knew it. I'd let my fear compromise me, and now he wouldn't stop until I dead too.

"It's good, you'll like it." David walked closer towards me, machete in hand. He licked his lips, like he was viewing a succulent steak, ready to be eaten with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

"Fuck off! Stay back!" The thought of being eaten terrified me, this isn't how I wanted to die.

David grabbed me

"Get off me!" The fear swelled up inside me like a balloon ready to burst.

"Would you like to try some?" His mouth was practically dripping, he was read to eat.

"No." I could've just gave in and ate the damn bloke but I didn't want to eat a person.

"I didn't mean to imply you had a choice." David sneered at me. His sharp teeth showed like a lion after it's prey.

I decided enough was enough, I was getting out of this alive one way or another. I threw a quick uppercut to David's solar plexus, enough to take the air out of his lunges. Without waiting I pushed him back with as much force as possible. David steadied himself. I grabbed my pistol from my holster when suddenly he threw his machete at me. It was like a Concorde flying towards my face, I narrowly moved my head at the last second as the machete impaled into the plasterboard behind me. I'd been concentrating on the machete and as I looked back towards me I saw David had already started running towards me. I panicked and raised my pistol to shoot him in the head but it was too late. Just as I had raised my pistol he grabbed onto my wrist and used his other hand to grab onto my neck. He slammed my wrist against the wall and I dropped the gun from my right hand onto the floor. He tightened his grip on my neck and I was starting to struggle against him, I tried to push back but he was stronger than he looked and it was getting harder and harder to breath.

I clenched my left hand into a fist with the intent of sending a left hook to his temple but just as I threw the punch he raised his right elbow. My fist slammed against the joint and put me in more pain than I was originally. I was running out options. He was quite literally choking the life out of me. We were making direct eye contact and his mouth curved into a smile, revealing his sharp jagged teeth. Teeth that would be ripping through my flesh the second I was dead. I refused to go that way. I brought up my right foot and kicked his left knee with as much force as I could generate, he screamed out in pain as he let go of my hand and neck and fell to the floor. I threw my weight into a kick directed to his ribs that sent shock waves of pain throughout his system. I dived to the floor, hoping to grab onto him so I could send punch after punch into his fucking face, but he rolled out of the way at the last second. The man shrugged off pain like it was nothing. I crashed into the floor, my nose hitting off the floorboards sending a jolt of pain through my face. My nose was definitely broken and I could feel it sending steams of pain throughout my face. David climbed on top of me and punched me in face and threw a right hook into my nose.

It was already broken but the pain was excruciating, I'd never been in this much pain before in my life. I reached out with my hands, desperately trying to grab onto anything that would tip the scales in my favour. My right hand gripped onto something familiar, my pistol! I gripped it firmly in my right hand, making sure that I wouldn't drop it this time. I brought my hand up and pointed the towards his head but he grabbed the pistol in both hands trying to aim it towards my face. We were locked in a desperate battle, each trying to put a bullet in each others brains. The gun started to turn towards me, I tried to grip the pistol with my left hand but he placed his knee on my forearm so I couldn't move it. The pistol was slowly turning, the barrel getting closer and closer to my face. I wasn't strong enough to hold off both of his arms, when I was only using one of mine. The barrel was centimetres from pointing directly at my head now and I was getting desperate. The barrel was pointed directly at my temple and just as David was about to pull the trigger, I flipped the safety on. He looked confused, pulling the trigger only gave audible clicks and David looked confused. I took advantage of this. In his confusion he had loosened his grip on my me, and I flipped him over. It was my turn now, and I sent punch after punch into his face with speed I didn't think I was capable of. David was on the verge of unconsciousness, and I could see he didn't have much strength left in him. I stood up and walked over to the machete, pulling it out of the wall. I was contemplating beheading him then and there, part of me still angry and terrified. I wanted to end his life, but despite the fact that he would continue killing and eating people, I still had to dispose of the soldiers bodies. Him eating them would leave little to no trace.

"You're lucky. You do what you do best, you eat these bodies, you don't leave a trace. If you come after me, if you try to find me, if you come after anybody that I care about. I will kill you. Do you understand me? I'm going to take that as a yes, because if I ever see you again I'm going to make you wish you were a fucking vegetarian." I grabbed his head and slammed it off the floorboards with enough force to knock him out, but no enough force to kill him. It was time to collect my payment.

* * *

"I won't do it. I refuse."

"You got that fucking right mate."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Bill – July 14th 2033

"Yeah. That's one of Bill's alright." Joel was on his hands and knees, closely observing a device that was planted on the wall. It looked like an old tin can with a bit of string coming out of it. I could only guess as to what it's purpose was. We had been walking for what seemed like hours through the wilderness. We'd climbed through buildings, old wrecks, just to get to Bill's.

"What is it?" Ellie stood behind Joel, keeping back from the tin can. When we met her she looked fairly clean, now she was covered in dirt, and had a few cuts and bruises to show for it.

"It's a nail bomb. Trip the wire? You'll look like pinhead." Joel was still on all fours, still observing the tin can closely.

"Who's pinhead?" Ellie looked bewildered, we'd forget she was born after the outbreak, and only had limited knowledge of what the world was like before the outbreak. Besides, it was a shitty pop culture reference anyway.

"Forget it. Keep low, we can crawl under it. Watch your head Ellie." Joel lay down on his stomach and army crawled underneath the wire. Being careful not to break the string. We all followed him in unison, army crawling underneath the wire. Now that Tess was dead Joel had inherited the role of unelected leader. He was the only person who seemed to know the way.

We emerged in an alleyway which we had no choice but to walk through. There was an arm chair with a skeleton just sitting there. Upon closer observation I saw a hole in the side of it's skull. The poor guy had shot himself in the head. Or was it a woman? I had no idea.

"What did you think happened?" Ellie looked at the skeleton, nobody should have to see this shit, let alone a kid.

"Shot himself in the head. Maybe he was infected. Or maybe he was just scared of living in this world." Quaid informed Ellie, he'd seen the bullet hole to and had come to the same conclusion. He looked at the skeleton, his eyes betraying the sadness inside.

"Doesn't matter now. You forget about it, and you move on." Joel kept walking, and we followed him to a rusty old warehouse. It must have been used to store old farm gear, tractors, combine harvesters, the works. It would have all been gone by now, stripped for parts.

"This it? Doesn't look like much." So far we'd come across nail bombs, and a huge make shift barrier made from old cars, wood, and whatever else this guy could get his hands on. I don't know what I expected in all honesty, maybe a fucking fort. But this was just a rusty warehouse. We walked towards the warehouse and I gestured for Quaid to draw his pistol.

"Joel, stay with the kid. We'll make sure it's safe." Joel nodded.

"You know, I have a name." I ignored Ellie. Me and Quaid were pointing our pistols towards the entrance to the warehouse. We were focused, walking slowly towards the rusty old door. We reached the door, and me and Quaid stood either side of it.

"You breach?" Quaid nodded at me. He stood in front of the door and kicked with as much strength as he could near the handle. However, the plan backfired and he fell flat on his arse. The metal clanged against his boot, it seemed to shake the entire warehouse, I thought it would fall apart but it was surprisingly sturdy.

"Good work there boys. Did you check if there's a lock?" Ellie looked at us with disapproval, she was obviously wondering how two twats like us managed to stay alive this long. To be honest I asked myself the same question, we had a lot of close calls.

"Of course we did there's no padlock!" Quaid shouted back, embarrassed by what had happened. He picked himself up and dusted the dirt of his arse.

"There's a padlock." How had we missed that?

"Fuck. I'll handle it." Quaid pointed his suppressed Walther at the lock and fired two bullets in it for good measure. The lock was old and weak, and fell apart. Me and Quaid walked in the warehouse, pistols at the ready; ready to shoot anything that tried to kill us. However, it was empty. Quaid walked into the warehouse. I'm glad he decided to walk in front of me. A rope wrapped around Quaid's ankle and he was dragged into the air, a fridge suspended him in the air upside down. Caught like a rabbit in a trap.

"Fuck! Son of a bitch!" Quaid was hanging upside down, his hoodie was unzipped and had fallen down, covering his face. His hands were inches from touching the floor. "I can't see anything dude!"

"Ellie, see if you can climb up and get him down from there will ya?" Joel pointed at the fridge.

"Hurry up alright kid?" I couldn't see Quaid's face because of his hoodie, but I assumed his face was red from either embarrassment, or the blood rushing to his head. Probably both.

"Hey gimme a sec okay? Jeez!" Joel squat down and formed a cup with his hands. Ellie ran towards him, and jumped onto his hands. Joel pushed up as hard as he could and boosted her onto the top of the fridge.

A clicking noise echoed through the area.

"Oh. Fuck. Ellie! Get him down from there now!" Clickers! Quaid's lucky we were with him. If one of us was alone we'd more than likely die.

"What? What is it? I can't see shit!" Quaid's face was still covered by his hoodie.

"Shit. Hold 'em off!" Joel drew his pistol and began to open fire on infected that were approaching us, I decided to do the same. Clickers were everywhere. Approaching us from all angles. We were in deep shit. Me and Joel were doing our best to take out as much infected as possible but it didn't seem to do much good, the more we killed the more that seemed to come. It was like trying to put out an oil fire, almost impossible.

"I can't see anything! Ellie! Hurry up!" Quaid was desperately struggling against the rope, trying to get free, but failing.

"I'm trying I'm trying!" Ellie was untying the rope holding the fridge up, doing her best, but the lock was thick and the knot was tight. This Bill guy sure knew how to make good traps. Nail bombs, rope traps, what next? Electric fences? Probably, knowing the way we were fucking going. Suddenly an infected man grabbed onto Quaid, Joel saw what was going on and stopped shooting. He ran towards the infected man and tackled it to the ground, he straddled it and began to lay punch after punch into it's face with strength most people half his age lacked.

"Got it!" Ellie shouted with success. Turns out she'd fucked up big time as it pulled Quaid further into the air.

"Wait? Where am I? Am I higher up? Closer to the floor? What the fuck is going on!" Quaid was still desperately struggling against the rope, attempting to break free.

"Ellie, stay on the fridge!" Joel stood up and continued shooting at the waves on infected coming towards us. I felt something grab onto me from behind. One of the fuckers had grabbed me across my neck with it's right arm while attempting to bite me on the neck. I felt it's hot breath against my neck. The thought of it's teeth sinking into my neck terrified me and luckily enough, my reactions were fast enough to bring up my left arm and push it's head away from me. The zombie fell to the ground and I pointed my pistol at it's head and fired a bullet into it's skull.

"I got it!" Ellie had managed to untie the rope and Quaid fell to the ground. He was about twelve feet in the air so it was quite a fall. He fell onto the ground, his upper back taking most of the impact.

"Ow y'bastard!" Quaid was still on the floor, the rope around his ankle. I turned round to look at him, and a man in a gas mask had cut the rope around his ankle. "Get off your ass and on your feet!" The man helped him up. Quaid ripped off his hoodie and threw it to the ground.

"Bill! Where you going!?" Joel and Ellie ran after Bill and we all followed. We were sprinting through the warehouse out into a courtyard on the otherside.

"God dammitt!" An infected grabbed Bill and with incredible strength and speed he grabbed the infected and threw it over his shoulder. The infected was struggling on the floor, and Bill curb stomped it's head into the ground.

"Which way?" Joel asked Bill. He sounded out of breath, we all were.

"Alright er, we'll cut through! Come on!" We followed Bill as he run past an old articulated lorry.

"Run Ellie!" Joel grabbed Ellie and threw her forward, it might have seemed rude but i'd rather that than be eaten by a fucking dead man.

"Goddamn! I'm going!" Ellie sprinted after Bill.

* * *

_10 years ago_

By the time I had made it back to Marlene's place it was already dark, I estimate 1am. I was covered in blood, a mixture of the corpses, mine, and David's blood. My nose was broken, I was covered in bruises, and I was in agony. Marlene lived in one of the many apartments in the city, what better way to blend in with the people, than by living among them? I knocked on her apartment door, number 207. I heard somebody approach the door, then unhook chains and all sorts of locking devices. It was Quaid who opened the door.

"Jesus. You look like shit dude." Quaid stood there, he was still in his combat gear and looked a lot less worse for wear than me.

"You should see the other guy. Is the car safe?" I placed my left hand on the right side of my rib cage. My ribs felt like they'd be crushed under a car.

"Yeah. It's safe, I took it to the safe house." Quaid put my arm around him so I could lean my weight on him.

"Oh my God. Is your nose broken!? Get him inside!" Marlene looked worried. She was also still wearing her combat gear. Quaid led me inside an sat me down on the sofa. It was old and worn, a lot like myself.

"So. Where's our payment?" I wanted to get straight down to business. It wasn't because I didn't want to waste time, I just wanted to distract myself from the pain.

"You sure you don't want to get yourself fixed first?" Marlene gestured towards my nose.

"I can do that later. Quaid can hold my hand." I chuckled at Quaid.

"Fuck you." Quaid grabbed my nose and forced it back into place.

"Gah! Fuck! You dick!... Feels much better now, thanks." Something had cracked back into place, it wasn't painful anymore.

"You're welcome."

"Well... Here you go." Marlene opened up a chest that she had in the middle of the room. "Two Lee-Enfields with five magazines each, and two bullet proof vests. Used."

"Sweet." Quaid took his bullet proof vest and put it in his back pack. I did the same.

"I have another job for you. If you're interested." Marlene asked me and Quaid. This woman sure had a lot of work.

"What's the job?" Quaid asked, he was always wary about working with Marlene.

"You two used to be fireflies. So you two need to keep this, top, secret."

"Done." I took pride in my secrecy.

"Well... We've been trying to search for a cure for a long time now. Well, we've made some ground breaking progress. It's not a vaccine we can give people right away. It needs time to grow into an immune system, as a persons growing up.

"So that's what the kids for?" I felt anger boiling up inside me. I hated working when it had anything to do with kids.

"Yes." How was Marlene staying so calm?

"I won't do it I refuse."

"To fucking right mate." Quaid agreed with me. I glanced over his direction and saw that he was getting pissed off too. His face was frowning and he was starting to turn ever so slightly red.

"You don't even know the job yet." She knew that we'd already figured it out.

"I know it perfectly well. You want us to inject the kid. Do it yourself!" I stood up from the sofa, pointing at Marlene. I hadn't been this angry in a long time.

"It's not that simple. She needs to be taken somewhere quiet. Just in case it kills her. Her body needs to be, disposed of." She was staying remarkably calm, i'd practically been right in her face.

"You're kidding me. Who's kid is it anyway? Yours?" Quaid's face betrayed both a mixture of confusion, and anger.

"An old friends. I promised I'd look after her." She wasn't as calm any more, she wasn't angry, she was sad.

"You're taking the piss right? I promised to look after Shaun's dog once, I didn't fucking enrol it in a science experiment!" Quaid stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the city. It was raining, if you didn't look to closely it would almost seem peaceful.

"We're so close! A cure! For everybody! No more fear of the infected! Because you can't get infected!" Marlene was shouting back at me. No, she wasn't shouting, she was begigng me to listen. I knew what the Fireflies had been doing, a lot of good people had lost their lives looking for this cure.

We sat there in silence.

"Fine. I'll do it." I couldn't look in Marlene's eyes. This job was one too far.

"This is the most fucked up job, we've ever taken." Quaid knew it was a lesser of two evils, but he didn't like it. None of us did.

"It's good pay. Tell me what you need? I can get it." Marlene's voice was breaking up, I could tell she was on the verge of crying.

"Ammo, that's all we need for now." I kept looking at the raggedy old carpet covering the floor.

"And two new combat knives." Quaid added in. He was right, I can't believe we hadn't got knives already.

"It's settled then. You two can stay the night here. Curfew, the soldiers will see you."

* * *

"What are we doing?" Marlene was sat on the sofa, her face in her hands. She looks distraught. It must have been tearing her up inside. I'd been thinking long and hard about it and one person's possible death? Well... It was a lesser evil compared to not making humanity immune from the parasite.

"The right thing. You're doing the right thing." I sat down next to Marlene and put my arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. The poor girl had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and well I always was a sucker for a damsel in distress.

"Am I? Really?" Tears were flowing down the side of her cheeks, and something cracked inside me. Something that inspired me to help her.

"You make the hard decisions, the decisions we don't have to make. You make them for all of us and let me tell you sweet heart, I'm grateful I don't have to do what you do. It's for a greater good. IF this works, do you know how many lives will be saved? How many people will be out of danger?"

"And If it doesn't... My best friends daughter dies. Ellie dies." It was a risk we had to take, we all knew it.

"I know you. You're thorough. She'll be fine. You wouldn't be doing this, unless you were certain she'd survive." Marlene was meticulous, she wouldn't do this unless she was sure that Ellie wasn't in any danger.

"Thank you. So how are you holding up these days anyway?" Marlene glanced in my general direction and smiled softly.

"Ah, you know. Same as everybody else. But just look at the world Marlene. We kill other people, we kill those who used to be human. I just come back from the most vile man I have ever met and I am lucky to be alive. Every day I get up, and just focus on whatever it is I have to do to survive, but then I stop. I can't stop thinking about everything that's happened. It's been ten years since the outbreak, ten years since my parents died and I just can't move on from it. The only thing that keeps me going is Quaid, he's the only thing I have in this world." It'd been the first time in a long time that I had opened up and listened to my emotions. It didn't feel to good. I was wondering what Marlene would say? She had an entire organisation to run, the emotions of one man hardly meant anything.

She looked at me, and just kissed me on the cheek. I don't know why, but I kissed her back.

"Quaid's asleep on the floor you know." We both knew where this was going.

"Well... We better be quiet then. I don't think he'd care if we woke him." What happened next? You can imagine.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – 4x4 – July 14th 2033

_Present day_

"Ow! What the fuck!" I felt a blunt force hit the back of my head and I was knocked to the ground. I had no idea what it was but I soon realized that it must have been Bill. I'd fallen to my knees and was on all fours. Bill grabbed my right arm and handcuffed me to an old pipe.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Ellie ran towards Bill in an attempt to push him down but Bill was much stronger and much more experienced than her, and it was easy for him to grab her by the wrist and handcuff her next to me. I just wanted to know how he had so many handcuffs.

"Ellie! Alright Bill just calm down okay?" Joel tried to calm down Bill but to no avail. Bill had drew his pistol, what looked like a Glock 19, and pointed it at Joel and Quaid.

"Joel, by the Brit and the kid. Now. You? Stay there." Joel kept his hands behind his head as Joel was marched over towards us. What was this guy gonna do? I was helpless, I didn't like being tied up. Bill handcuffed Joel next to us. Bill turned round to look at Quaid but he was already one step ahead. Quaid ran towards Bill and grabbed him by the wrist and neck in an attempt to remove the gun and slam him to the ground. Bill pushed back against Quaid and they were locked in combat. The two of them were struggling for control of the glock. Somebody caught the trigger of the pistol and multiple bullets were fired towards our direction.

"Ellie! Get down!" Joel covered Ellies head with his free hand in order to provide her some minor protection. I ducked down, just as a bullet skimmed past my arm, narrowly missing my hand. A few more inches and the bullet would had taken off one of my fingers. The gun was still in bills hand, but instead of more bullets it simply clicked, the gun was empty. Bill clenched his right hand and threw a right hook towards Quaid's temple who was knocked back. He grabbed Quaid by the back of the head and threw and overhand right to the back of Quaid's head as he was knocked to the ground.

"Quaid! Argh! Fuck!" I noticed that the bullet that had narrowly missed me had shot the handcuffs linking my hand to the pipe. I pulled with as much strength as I could muster against the hand cuffs and managed to break free.

"Bill come on! Calm down!" Joel was shouting at Bill, a mixture of anger and pleading as he was trying to reason with Bill.

"Calm down? You bring two Brits, a kid, and a swarm of infected! Forgive me for not being calm!" Joel turned Quaid around and climbed on top of him as he threw punch after punch into Quaid's face.

"Why do you all hate us for being from England!?" I ran towards Bill, I grabbed him by the neck and threw my weight into him, pushing him against the wall. I used my left hand to pin his neck up against the wall and I threw a punch into the right side of his rib cage. He was struggling to breath as I threw another underhand punch into his stomach. I attempted a third punch, this time to his head, but he intercepted my fist, and and threw me to the floor with sheer strength. He was much stronger than I anticipated.

I was momentarily stunned as I saw his boot getting closer and closer to my face as he was attempting to curb stomp me. I grabbed him by the ankle at the last second and twisted. He shouted in pain, the hyper extension of his ankle forcing him to floor. He had fallen on his face, I climbed on his back and grabbed the back of his head, I then smashed his face off the ground with as much force as I could. I picked his head back up for a second attempt but he managed to using his legs to gain an advantage, he flipped me on my back and he was now on top of me, he began to punch me in the face, right hook after left hook. I began to feel light headed as punch after punch brought me closer to being the end. I attempt to intercept his fists but he grabbed me by the wrist and dislocated the joint. I screamed in agony as the pain shot through my entire arm. Quaid regained his bearings and tackled Bill off me. He picked up Bill and threw him into the wall and lay punch after punch into Bill. I ran towards Quaid and helped him repay the favour, I saw Bill attempted to counter one of Quaids punches but I was fast enough to grab his arm with my functioning hand, and slammed it against the wall, pinning him down. Quaid continued to lay into him, punching him again and again in the head with speed and power that would make Mike Tyson proud.

"God dammit! Stop!" Joel tugged against the handcuffs desperately trying to break free from the restraints.

"Wait! You're gonna kill him!" Ellie was pleading with us to stop.

"I think he's dead." I gestured for Quaid to stop, his fists were cut and bloody from the ruthless attack on Bill. Quaid stopped punching Bill, and he dropped to the floor, motionless.

"You stupid son of a bitch! He was our only way!" Joel tugged at the handcuffs, he looked like he wanted to kill us, and with both me and Quaid still tired from the fight with Bill, we'd have been no match for him. Even with full strength and both of us, I still think Joel would have killed both of us with ease.

"He tried to kill us!" I shouted back, we needed Joel on our side if we were going to pull this off.

"He was just going to check you for bites!" Ellie retorted, how could she say that? She went to attack Bill too!

"He could've just asked, the dip shit!" I couldn't believe how stupid they were both being.

"Oh yeah because every bodies so fucking honest. He was a good man!" He didn't seem like a good man.

"And now he's a dead man, we don't take any chances." Quaid starred at Bills corpse, we had both killed our fair share of people. We haven't had any choice, but you still remember every person you've killed. It's ugly, it's the worst thing in the world.

"Son of a bitch. Now what?" Joel stopped tugging at the handcuffs, accepting the reality of the situation.

"Well... Looks like we don't have a choice. Quaid? The hummers not far from here right?" He was lost in thought, still staring at Bill's corpse.

"It's about half hour walk." Quaid said, he looked towards Joel.

"What do you mean hummer? A 4x4?" Joel looked annoyed, obviously pissed off that we hadn't used the hummer originally.

"Yeah. We didn't wanna use it. It might be a one way trip for the damn thing and cars aren't easy to get hold off." Quaid retorted.

"Just take off these damn cuffs, and get us to the car." Ellie glanced towards Bill's body, he had the keys.

* * *

_Ten years ago_

"Is she asleep?" Quaid and I had been walking through Boston towards the West tunnel. We had set off from Marlene's early hours in the morning. We had both slept light. Well, Quaid has slept, I hadn't for obvious reasons.

"Yeah. Out cold." Quaid was carrying Ellie, she was so small and fragile. It felt wrong to inject her with this... Venom.

"Are we seriously going to do this?" Quaid looked at me, his expression betraying both his sadness and anger at the situation.

"We have to. How many lives can we save if we do this?" I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me.

"She's a little girl though dude. She could die." Quaid was right, but one little girl could save all of us.

"One life to save countless." It was a lesser of two evils.

"It's still one too many."

We'd taken her to the west tunnel of the Boston quarantine zone, it was long since abandoned, unused. Nobody bothered to come in from the west side now so there was no use for the tunnel, a good place for just in case the serum killed her. We entered a long abandoned building, the trap door was in the first room. It was devoid of all life and objects except for an old messy sofa that was covering the trap door. I pushed the sofa out of the way and bent down to open the trap door.

"Be careful down there. It's not been used in years."

I took out my flash flight and my suppressed Walther, holding the torch in my left hand and my pistol in my right hand. I shined the torch into the tunnel and glanced in each corner: nothing.

"Wish me luck." I jumped down into the tunnel and was immediately greeted with the stench of rotting carcass. I glanced in each direction of the tunnel, it was empty apart from a few old wooden crates and a rotting corpse. It looked like it must have been there for a long time as it was almost a skeleton by now.

"It's clear. Lower her down." Quaid leant down and handed me Ellie, she was still fast asleep. Best do this while she was asleep to avoid any problems. Quaid turned on his torch and jumped down as well, pistol in hand.

"You ready?" Quaid handed me the serum, it was in a small hyperdermic needle.

"Be ready, just in case." I inserted the needle slowly into Ellie's neck. She seemed to flinch slightly as I injected the experimental drug but she did not awaken.

Then.

Ellie awoken and started to scream, her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she was shaking violently.

"Shit! Fuck! Pin her down!" Quaid held down her arms so she didn't hurt herself. She was having a fucking seizure!

"What do we do!? What do we fucking do!?" Quaid was panicking, she was still shaking violently.

"How the fuck do I know!? We don't even know what's in this shit!" Blood started to froth from her mouth.

"You're the one who went to Uni!"

"Yeah! For one day! Then the fucking apocalypse happened!" I had no idea what to do. Ellie stopped shaking, and I checked her pulse.

"Shit. We need to do CPR." Her pulse was very weak and with CPR I was confident we could save her. What else could we do in this situation?

"CPR?" Really? Quaid didn't know what CPR was?

"Fuck. You know, Vinnie Jones and all that! What was the tune again?"

"Staying alive by the Bee Gees wasn't it?" Oh so you remember the song!

"Fuck sake. I'll do it." I leant over and started chest compressions.

One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.

"Check her pulse!" Quaid placed his fingers on the underside of her neck and

"It's still weak."

I tried again. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.

Ellie's eyes opened and she started to sit up.

"Hey there kiddo stay down, relax." Quaid comforted her, he was always better with kids than me.

"Where am I? Where's Marlene?" She had tears in her eyes, they were swelling up red and she looked confused and terrified.

"We're taking you to her now. You're gonna be okay."

"Please, take me back. I want Marlene." She was so young and innocent. It was lucky that the serum had worked.

* * *

_Present Day_

"Looks like shit." Ellie's comments on the hummer were... Appreciated. Admittedly the old girl had seen better days. The once shiny black finish was now old and dull. The outer bodywork was covered in scratches, dents and bullet holes from years of abuse. There was no longer a wind shield or a rear wind shield, bullets had destroyed them a long time ago. The abandoned garage was empty apart from a large metal table with various tools and a few jugs of fuel.

"Fuck you. She's never let us down yet. Where did you hide the keys?" I looked towards Quaid, he had put the car here ten years ago after we finished smuggling Ellie into the quarantine zone.

"I um... Don't remember." Quaid was looking around, a look of confusion across his face.

"What do you mean you don't remember!?" How the fuck could you forget something like that?

"We haven't used it for ten years! You used to lose your keys all the time!" Quaid started searching around the room looking for the keys.

"So!? You're supposed to put them somewhere you remember! This is post apocalypse not a trip to the fucking post office!" I started to look under tools, desperately looking for the keys. No keys? No car.

"You two Brits are idiots. Search around, they gotta be round here some where." Joel and Ellie started to look around searching for the keys.

"Dude... They're in the ignition." Quaid opened the car door and climbed in the passenger seat.

"You left them... In the ignition." I sighed as I climbed in the back seat.

"How in the hell are you two still alive?" Joel climbed in the drivers seat and Ellie climbed in the back with me.

* * *

"You just don't get it do you kid?"

"I'm a slow learner."


End file.
